Hey there!
I am looking for an advice from somebody with more experience!
I have my law degree in civil law from Sofia university, Bulgaria. LSAC evaluation shows superior.
I am on my way of completing 2 year acceralated LLB from the U.K. - so far my average is high 2:1 (above average according to LSAC).
I am not required to sit TOEFL because I am completing a law degree in English.
This year I applied for LLM at UCLA, USC, Vanderbilt, Emory , Fordham , Loyola Los Angelis and Tulane! I applied literally at the last moment - 14.02 and had some issues with my transcript so LSAC completed my file on 22.03.
So far I got offers from Vanderbilt, USC and Tulane. I haven't heard from the others yet.
Vanderbilt told me that they are making scholarship decisions this week, UCS offered me a nice scholarship (can't disclose the amount but it's less than half tuition) and Tulane offered me a lucrative $37 500 scholarship. I was in New Orleans two summers for 5 months each year through cultural exchange program and I am in love with the city and with Tulane - one of the most beautiful campuses. Tulane's Admission and professors were very helpful during the application process and extremely nice.Further, I have made some friends in New Orleans which is another factor.
However, I got so caught up reading about rankings. I love USA and want to stay and work there for a while. I was wondering which Uni will give me the best chances for that. My interests are in sports and entertainment law. Does somebody have more information about these three schools career opportunities for LLM students after graduation?
My boss (I am currently working as legal consultant in a legal service firm in London) tells me to wait till the next year and apply to T10 universities.
However, money is a big issue and Tulane's offer is really tempting.
I would appreciate any thoughts!

[Edited by Ali1208 on Apr 03, 2017]

Hi,

I think that USC is a great option for you... you are interested in entertainment law so your best option are UCLA and USC, both have specialization in such area and are located in LA where is located the most importants players of enterntaiment business.

I do not think that be in a top 10 university will be a significant difference in that specialization.

Vanderbilt is an excellente university but I know that its specialization are others... such business law.

Tulane is a good university with an excellent program in maritime law, but its ranking do not compete with the other schools (Tulane #51, and the others USC, UCLA and Vandy are top 20).

Related to the opportunity of working at USA is very difficult with only an LLM but I think your better options should be UCLA and USC by its location and alumni, also this two schools attend to the two LLM job fairs (UCLA-LA and NYU-NY).

I hope this info helps you.

Agree with the above poster. USC or UCLA without a doubt if you want to do sports and entertainment.

Thanks for your answers. I am still waiting to hear back from UCLA - hopefully they will be making up their mind soon!

In regard to the T10 I don't think they offer LLM in sports and entertainment. My mentor mentioned me Columbia but they do not have LLM but Ms in sports management which will not help me to qualify for the bar I think (I will have only two years LLB from the U.K. , not 3 which is the requirement for the NY bar).

I am reading that Tulane have very good sports law program and the director of the program has very strong connections in the sport industry. However you are completely right about the rankings. A friend of mine who is a lawyer in New Orleans is telling not to get so caught up about the rankings and to go with the bigger scholarship but he is a JD graduate which makes a huge difference.

Having friends in New Orleans and knowing the city is tempting but on the other hand I don't want this to sway me away from turning an offer from much more highly ranked school. However, the scholarship factor is undoubtedly important. Attending Tulane will put me in $20 000 student debt while UCS in $40 000. So wondering whether the difference is worth it?

As you say the JD market is so much different than LLM...

I do not know the program of Tulane about sports law but I personally think that is more convenient to study entertainment law because is a bigger market (sometimes also the sports industry is considered part of entertainment industry) so a LLM with specialization in entertainment law can be transformed into a job in sports but is much more difficult to obtain a job in other sector with an sports specialization.

Also I agreed that maybe is a big difference between the schools ($20K)... I recommend you to ask for a bigger scholarship at USC explaining that you want to attend but you have a better offert... I know a lot of cases where the scholarships were increased in different schools by petition. In your case I consider that paying a difference around $10K to attend USC worth it.

Other thing that you may consider is the location... LA is a dream for the sports fans and have a lot of presence of the industry (Lakers, Clippers, Rams, Chargers, Angels, Dodgers, Galaxy...)

Other thing that I forgot to say is that I think is better to attend a new city... you will have new connections that will transformed in a better network (imagine the people you already know in NO plus the people you may know in LA), sometimes when you go to a city where you previously know some people you do not expand your network because you hang out with your friends.

I do not know the size of Tulane LLM but USC LLM is a big one where you can have access to a lot of different people from diverses countries and backgrounds.